Hoops

What's your NBL team's biggest blunder?

Gleeson and Lemanis are better than Demopolous and Gaze obviously. But still nothing special. Stop comparing average coaches with absolute spuds to make them look better.

Lemanis also let Carlos Powell do as he pleased. Never in NBL history have I seen a coach be so soft. Somehow he didn't get sacked after that showing.

#515 so glad someone else sees it for what it is.

Crocs biggest blunder was signing Leon Henry after the nightclub incident..rather than giving his minutes to a promising junior local.

Yes, just conveniently ignore the upgrade in player talent the Boomers had at the latest Olympics.

^^^^^^. Yep

No he's not a super coach but he certainly isn't a blunder or one of the worst mistakes the franchise has made.
The Blackwells would be also one of the best things that has happened at the Breakers along with Clarke

Well, back in the hey-days, the Supercats going broke and leaving the NBL was not a great thing, then the Dragons also going into financial difficulty and other things, both leaving the league, one permanently are the blunders that hurt me still today.

Hopefully the Supercats can one day get it together and move back into the NBL, the Dragons, not so sure, maybe that ship has sailed...

Of course but he isn't some super coach. Right time, right place.

You mean the Blackwells were the best thing to happen to the franchise.

Before Lemanis there was Frank Arsego and Jeff Greene, their recruitment and results were also terrible hence why Lemanis needed some Australian Vets that knew what it takes on and off the court and had enough locker room presence to enact the change across the team and franchise.

That change was never going to happen over night.

Enter CJ Bruton & Toy Ronaldson and he also bought back Vukona & Boucher who had left during the circus of previous Coaching.

I have followed the Breakers since day one, game one and Lemanis is the best thing that happened to the Franchise, not the worst.

@mystro think pre-title era/early Lemanis seasons there. The signings and coaching were woeful.

"Oh and you can add in the Seamus McPeake locker room sacking of Ubaka. A classless way to go about it. "

Agreed. Sums up the McPeake era well though.

Redhage wasn't that good sorry anon. That spin move to travel/turnover or contested shot was frustrating to watch as a fan.
He improved greatly with Perth.

Those Australian Journeymen that Lemanis selected over local talent were all proven winners and instrumental in implementing a culture and mindset change in the franchise that resulted in 4x titles.

Speaking of Smyth - him losing to NZ in that series during his short Boomers tenure. Woeful.

I know this is club related but the biggest blunder in NBL history seems to be NBL chairman Malcolm Speed (I think it was) telling every other code that basketball will be the 2nd) biggest sport in the country and every other sport doing everything to stop it and killing our first boom period of basketball in this country.

Sure enough teams dying certainly didn't help but that was absolutely awful.

And... Phil Smyth not being included in 40th anniversary team seems quite an oversight

How ironic given that Lemanis is now employing NZ hacks instead of local talent.

Oh, and the Bullets not signing McCarron when he was done with college is a pretty big blunder.

Breakers

Sorry mystro but you are wrong

1) dropping Shawn redhage for Marcus Timmons.

2) Andre Lemanis. - worst coach we ever had. Especially early on in his tenure when he consistently signed third tier Australian journeymen over New Zealand Talent.

Aaron Fearne thinking for one second that Jawai was ever going to stay fit and healthy, that he was going to be the one to finally straighten him out and THEN convincing the board to sign him on a three year deal. double. f**k. me.

just one more year and we're free of him.

Canberra not even talking James Crawford to stay after his first and last season with them, before then going to Perth " because they were the only team that made me an offer" ( add very thick southern drawl) ;)

the appointment of their last chairman prior to entering administration and liquidation. You can Guess the club fairly easily ;)

We are going to foul Waxy. Foul Waxy Foul Waxy

Waxy is on Adelaide’s bench

DD

once bitten, twice shy

The Kings hiring that hanky coach?

ken cole coached 36ers 2 seasons , second and top , had bradtke in the wings etc
but they sacked him....ignoring the fact that with him we were a championship team , without him just another team ..

Cat Chat? Haha, it was a blunder having it active in the first place.

Oh and you can add in the Seamus McPeake locker room sacking of Ubaka. A classless way to go about it.

Demopoulos. Look, he wasn't totally inept

The Barlow PG experiment- cost the Tigers the 2009 championship.

The Centre season- Burston, Helliwell, Nevill on the same team with Tragardh as a 4 and shudder, occasionally a 3.....

The all-attitude donut team from 2015. You gotta check your character references and balance it out. McRae. Kickert (we now all know what he's like after recent events). Wortho. Tomlinson. None of these guys are overly cancerous individuals but they shouldn't have all been assembled on one roster. It was an endless stream on whining and moaning, a poor locker room and a donut team with no Centre and a wasted season.

I'm a paid up United man but I wish they were still the Tigers.

Demopoulos. Look, he wasn't totally inept but he was pretty bad. We should've done better.

Everyone keeps mentioning this Ferguson leaving 36ers early deal resulting in them losing cash - does anyone have a link to an article about this?

I know this isn't a blunder but I want to mention it, I know that Perth had Ricky Grace and he is amazing and all but had the Wildcats kept CJ Bruton as a combo guard for his entire career then you have to wonder how the fortunes of player and club would have gone!

Brisbane has to be Eddy Groves, yes he did so much right but the history books say that they didn't connect with the fan base enough to keep the team alive and that can't be denied.

Townsville I'll mention too as it's a sad story of a club that sold out games and had a marvellous reputation and letting the casino use your car park during games, that I'm sure still stings those involved.

Sydney is easily the firepower wanker.

Adelaide... could the Super Sixers be considered a blunder ie whether they should have never went that/stayed the super Sixers?

Illawarra and Cairns, I'm going to say this in today's NBL and how we have a team trying to get a license after purchasing their own stadium... their blunder is not getting enough big wigs together to have bought the stadium they play at and live off numerous income sources (before I get shot down just think of all the rich owners Illawarra had even this century and combine them, maybe they could have got WEC.... also Illawarra - the snake pit was pretty awful and the lights going off and whatnot.

NZ - amazing club undoubtedly but their biggest blunder was getting everyone to see that putrid floor known as North Shore Events Centre, seriously WTF has everyone been thinking to not have moved from there sooner or to redo the floor.

Last thought, did we avoid a massive blunder by not allowing Nathan Tinkler to get an NBL team (which I feel they deserve) which would have crashed and burned and made us look all the more amateurish at the time

Really? It was big news on here at the time.

Yes. Nice suggestion.

Would Marty Clarke come into the discussion for Adelaide?

Brisbane signing Te Rangi after the NZ fight club incident.

Canberra folding or letting Darnell Mee leave

Tassi folding or letting trimmingham leave

36ers - Christopherson

AD's post was a blunder.

Moving to Challenge was absolutely the right call at the time

A Dazz are you for real?

Get with reality not fantasy - Stokes had grown tired and that's why he sold the team. To then say Vlahov & Longley ownership was a blunder is ridiculous. They saved the team.

I don't see how that is a blunder on Stokes' part as he got out of the NBL when it was in rapid decline.

Ok I can see it was a question rather than a statement whether it was a blunder or not re: CG43/Perth. No, it wasn't.

CG43 only went to Perth the gap year Joey had from the NBL between Brisbane and GC. Strange comment to say it was a blunder especially since Goulding wasn't the star player he is today.

Super recently: Perth not replacing Cooke Jr. after Knight injury.

Breakers would have been the Boucher - Frank Arsego issue with Boucher getting caught out talking smack about his then former Coach online or via text from memory.

Nothing else really springs to mind other than hiring Jeff Greene as Coach.

When did Bradtke leave Adelaide in the context of his rise and the career of Davis? If it was truly a him-or-me, in hindsight, that could've been a significant moment.

Ingles and Newley were botched, but neither stayed in the NBL at the time for that long. Would either have tipped the club into championship territory?

Sobey's moment last season - unfair, but take that out and I think the 36ers win that series, maybe they're emboldened to lock in Creek right away and then either have him in the squad or a legitimate claim to a fee to spend on upgrading the roster.

I think this off-season could easily prove to be very damaging for Adelaide. From contenders in that series to potentially risking loss of coach and owner jumping ship. That's a wild guess though.